Updates in Sustainability – Shanghai Expo, Juccce, Vancouver

admin — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 01:10:22 +0000

Wow, seems like a long time since I have blogged about the topic in sustainability.

About half a year ago, I joined an non-profit in China – JUCCCE – Joint US-China Colloboration on Clean Energy. They are quite an interesting group in the sense that they are not focusing too much on grassroot movements, but more on influencing the policy makers.

The chairperson, Peggy Liu, had been featured quite often in the US press, as she is an expert in dealing with green issues within China. I had a chance to go with Peggy to meet the Vancouver’s mayor Gregor Robertson and the delegation team visiting Shanghai’s expo.

Mayor Robertson and Councilor Louie in Shanghai Expo - Vancouver House - along side the Expo Ambassador "Da Shan" (left)

Juccce's Chairperson Peggy Liu, Vancouver's Mayor Robertson, and I in Shanghai's Vancouver Green Capital reception

Vancouver has a vision or mandate – to become the greenest city by 2020. The truth is, we have a very good case, as Vancouver is already one of THE GREENEST cities within North America. I believe that if we can create a marketable and sustainable business case, Vancouver can be the model for the rest of the world – and business communities who supports this will also benefit.

Ever since I came back, I went to many different “green” events – from a community level (Strathcona’s Sustainability Expo 3.0, SFU’s carbon talk series), city level (City of Vancouver’s “IdeaSlam”), as well as provincial/federal levels and many other events that are sponsored by different non-profits and NGOs. I notice that there are many talks and action that are going forward with the green notion – bike lanes in downtown, community gardens popping up everywhere in the city, and companies talking about how to attract consumers by selling this green aspect.

Personally I believe that energy conservation is the first step towards a green community. In the next few weeks, I will blog and post more about my knowledge in the Energy conservation field (I am a Certified Energy Manager, btw) and how it will relate to the whole sustainability lifestyle. So stay tuned!

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Sustainable Buildings in Shanghai Expo

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 21:33:43 +0000

It’s only a month or so away from the Shanghai Expo 2010.

I went to the Aichi Expo in 2005, and that was a great time. So when trying to compare that Expo with the upcoming one in Shanghai, I’m particularly interested in the field of buildings and architectures.

According to the press release by the main designer of the Aichi Expo, Shizuo Harada, half of the expo site was dedicated as green forests.

Comparing to the Shanghai Expo, whose main theme is ”Better city, Better Life”. The site is also 3 times larger in Shanghai, than that of Aichi, Japan. Sustainability this time, is presented more prominent than ever.

The Danish pavilion is named Welfairytales, which designed:

as a traffic centre which allows the visitors to experience the Danish city life as pedestrians and cyclists. You can choose a calm stroll with time to absorb the surroundings, or a dynamic bicycle trip with the city and city life rushing by. Moreover, Visitors will have the unique opportunity to see the world famous Little Mermaid, as Denmark has decided to display this renowned sculpture from Hans Christian Andersen’s most famous fairy tale at the EXPO 2010.

The Icelandic Pavilion will feature “Europe’s biggest glaciers that in turn feed rivers and waterfalls.

The Swedish pavilion will “reflect the meeting between city and nature and the optimism and strength that can be created”.

The Norwegian pavilion uses natural power to demonstrate architecture innovation -using 15 highly stylized models of Norwegian trees brought together to complete the pavilion.

More photos appeared today at boston.com. I’m linking some of the more interesting ones:

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Ngineer.net » shanghai

Updates in Sustainability – Shanghai Expo, Juccce, Vancouver

Sustainable Buildings in Shanghai Expo